


From the Heart

by jane_x80



Series: Tony Skates [6]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Anniversary, Ice Skating, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:47:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27851950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jane_x80/pseuds/jane_x80
Summary: It is Tony's turn to show Gibbs what a three month anniversary celebration should look like, except works gets in the way. This story takes place only a few weeks after last year's Ice Skating story,We've Got This Far.ForDay 3 of the 2020 Happy Holidays Challenge on LiveJournal, the theme is Ice Skating. A story in collaboration with Red_Pink_Dots and her gorgeous artwork.
Relationships: Anthony DiNozzo/Jethro Gibbs
Series: Tony Skates [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/900300
Comments: 25
Kudos: 113





	From the Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Red_Pink_Dots](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Pink_Dots/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Art for From the Heart](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27799831) by [Red_Pink_Dots](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Pink_Dots/pseuds/Red_Pink_Dots). 



> This is the second story that ma tres chere amie [Red_Pink_Dots](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Pink_Dots/pseuds/Red_Pink_Dots) and I collaborated on, and as always, RPD made such amazing artwork that so fits the story. I am so grateful that she continues to want to play with me and work with me to create stories and artwork. Thank you, ma cherie. You are always my Elton ❤️💋❤️
> 
> The song I listened to the most while writing this was Billy Joel's [Tell Her About It](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB_TRgolajc). The other was [Just the Way You Are](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBZnGk1nAjw) also by Billy Joel.
> 
> The title of the story comes from a portion of the lyrics of Just the Way You Are:  
>  _I said I love you and that's forever_  
>  _And this I promise **from the heart**_  
>  _I could not love you any better_  
>  _I love you just the way you are_

[](https://i.imgur.com/IN9qlBS.png)

It was barely 1000 hours when Gibbs came down the stairs from MTAC and saw that the rest of his team – Tony, McGee and Ziva – standing around the plasma, arguing about evidence that they had uncovered on the case that they had been working to solve.

“Gibbs!” Ziva exclaimed, apparently wanting him to mediate in whatever the argument seemed to be. “Tell Tony that we must go to New York City at once.”

“Boss, seriously, it’s not that big a deal,” Tony shook his head. “We have other leads we should pursue here in DC first.”

“ _You’re_ the one that found this out, Tony,” McGee objected. “The Lieutenant was in New York City the night before he died, and he didn’t tell anyone about it. We don’t know why he went there, who he saw, and what he did there. You’re the one who interviewed the wife and said that Lieutenant Davies told her that he was working and that it was classified, and you’re _also_ the one who interviewed his CO and his CO said that he was on leave that whole day.”

“It is very suspicious!” Ziva declared. “You cannot deny that, Tony.”

“We should follow up with his co-pilot,” Tony shook his head. “We should focus on getting all the information we can get out of him right here in DC before we start going out of town. Lieutenant Davies’ co-pilot is hiding something and we all know it.”

“What’s the deal with New York City?” Gibbs asked.

Tony growled in frustration.

“Tony found out that our deceased Lieutenant Davies took a secret trip to New York City the night before he was murdered and he lied about the reason for this trip to everyone,” Ziva said triumphantly. “But now Tony does not wish to go to New York to retrace Davies’ steps, which is the logical next step.”

“It’s because he has plans with his secret girlfriend!” McGee crowed. “Tony’s been trying to hide the fact that he’s seeing someone, Boss!”

“Which means that this is something that he is taking seriously and is not just one of his many adventures in being the resident NCIS slut,” Ziva glared at Tony.

“ _Hey!_ ” Tony objected.

“That’s _enough_ , Officer David,” Gibbs thundered at Ziva.

Ziva fell silent, although she was pouting mutinously, and Tony had crossed his arms and was glaring at his teammate, lips pursed in annoyance.

“DiNozzo, with me,” Gibbs said curtly, jerking his head towards the elevator. It would be better to have this conversation without any witnesses, although he made sure to give his best death glare at both Ziva and McGee to quell the whispered jibes that they seemed to continue to make even though Tony was striding towards the elevator.

Once the elevator started moving, Gibbs pressed the emergency stop button in between floors and gave Tony a concerned look.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

Tony sighed. “Nothing. We can go to New York,” he said, the words hesitant, and he refused to meet Gibbs’ eyes.

“DiNozzo?” Gibbs’ tone was a lot gentler than it used to be before they started this relationship that was still technically new, even though they had known each other for years.

Tony sighed again. “I just had something planned for us for tonight,” he muttered. “No big deal.”

“Sounds like it is,” Gibbs raised his eyebrows.

“It’s nothing,” Tony made a move to hit the emergency stop button again to reactivate the elevator.

“Tony?” this time Gibbs decided to use Tony’s first name.

“I’m sorry, this won’t affect work anymore,” Tony was still refusing to meet Gibbs’ eyes.

“Does this have to do with how you’ve been disappearing from me a few times a week these past few weeks, and why you’ve been working out extra?” Gibbs asked, keeping his tone gentle.

Tony shrugged. “It really doesn’t matter right now.”

“Did you plan a surprise for us for what _you_ think is our three-month anniversary?” Gibbs had to grin at that.

“Maybe,” Tony murmured, bottom lip sticking out mutinously. “And it _is_ our three-month anniversary. Your math skills are deficient.”

“You’re a sweetheart,” Gibbs pulled him in for a hug and breathed in his scent, dropping a soft kiss on his cheek. “Can we move your thing to tomorrow night instead?”

“Nah,” Tony sighed. “I made the arrangements for tonight and it’s not really something that’s easily rescheduled. I’ll have to cancel it.”

“Aww, baby,” Gibbs was genuinely sorry that Tony’s surprise had been ruined. He had wondered if maybe the younger man had forgotten, but he should have known better. “You know that with me, it really is the thought that counts, right?”

“Well, I had some pretty elaborate plans but, it’ll have to just be the thought that counts tonight,” Tony was still refusing to meet Gibbs’ gaze.

“It’ll be OK,” Gibbs cupped his chin gently and waited for those glass green eyes of his to finally meet his, and he smiled. “Thank you for the whatever it is you had planned, I’m sure I’d have loved it.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Whatever,” he pulled away, reached around Gibbs and smacked the button, and the elevator reactivated with a shudder. He leaned against the wall, arms around him defensively.

“Maybe we’ll make it back in time to still do this tonight?” Gibbs offered.

“It’s already after 1000 hours,” Tony shrugged. “Four hours in a car to get there if we’re lucky, then we actually have to investigate and who knows how long it will take, and then another four hours back? No way we’re making it in time for tonight. Besides, given what my lead is showing, we’ll probably have to spend the night in the City,” his native New Yorker coming out in his speech now. “I fucking hate the City.”

Gibbs leaned into him as comfortingly as he could.

Tony leaned back into Gibbs, putting his head on Gibbs’ shoulder for a half a second before he straightened up and drew in a deep breath. “I’ll organize all our casefiles to bring with us,” Tony said firmly. “And round up the troops. You want to drive up there or take the train?”

“Let’s take the train and rent a car when we get there. That’ll save us time,” Gibbs decided. As much as he loved to drive and he prided himself on being able to drive anywhere, traffic in and out of New York City was horrendous and he didn’t relish being stuck in bumper to bumper traffic for a few hours in a car with Ziva or McGee while Tony was in such a foul mood, just trying to crawl the last few miles to get into the city. He always felt it was faster to walk those last few miles than drive. The train would only take them three hours each way.

“On it,” Tony strode out the elevator when it dinged and the doors opened, back to the bullpen where he marshaled his teammates into getting ready for a trip to New York. Gibbs could see him on the phone, booking train tickets and making car rental reservations, and no doubt also multitasking and canceling whatever it was he had planned for their three-month anniversary celebration. He looked grim, but determined, and resolutely ignored the ribbing that his teammates threw his way.

Gibbs was truly regretful that poor Tony’s plans would have to be canceled. He wondered just what the man had arranged, and how elaborate this whole thing must have been for him to be so despondent. Gibbs sighed. He should have taken the team off rotation, but this high priority case had fallen into their laps and assigned to them by Vance himself. Lieutenant Davies was the son of Admiral Davies and therefore it became a high priority case, especially since Admiral Davies was a good friend of Vance’s. This was one of those cases that even if Gibbs had taken the team out of the rotation, Vance would have given him a call and asked him to take it regardless. It was something unavoidable, in other words.

But Tony was trying to hide his disappointment and take the ribbing as good-naturedly as possible, although he kept denying that he had a girlfriend. They were all sitting together in the train, Tony sitting in the window seat, next to Gibbs and across from Ziva and McGee who were sitting facing them . Tony was trying to ignore the two junior members of the team by going over a cold case file that he’d brought for his light reading. It was still a workday so Gibbs couldn’t fault his work ethic. He was trying to ignore the teasing from the other two members of the team, but they were making it difficult.

“Come on, Tony,” Ziva was wheedling. “Tell us what you were planning. Who is this woman that you have been seeing? Does she know what you do? Or do you have her bambooed?”

“Bamboozled,” Tony corrected absently. “I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“Seriously, Tony?” McGee picked it up. “That’s what you’re going with? You’ve been wearing your ‘I had sex’ face every day for a couple months now. Every single day, Tony!”

“Doesn’t mean I have a girlfriend. Could just mean I’m _that_ popular,” Tony turned the page, frowning at something that he was reading, or maybe he was frowning about the conversation, Gibbs couldn’t really tell.

Gibbs frowned at him. Had Tony been wearing his ‘I had sex’ face every day? He certainly wasn’t wearing it right now and Gibbs had fucked him six ways to Sunday late last night when they finally got to go home for the night. Although, granted, having to cancel his self-professed ‘elaborate’ plans for their anniversary was a buzzkill, so maybe Gibbs shouldn’t feel too bad that Tony wasn’t still wearing his ‘I had sex’ face right now.

“So you _have_ had sex every day for the last few months!” McGee crowed.

“You might want to ask your mom about that,” Tony’s words were still absent, as if he was barely paying attention to what was going on around him. “She’ll confirm it, I’m sure.”

“ _Tony!_ ” McGee whined. “Be serious!”

“Who says I’m not being serious?” Tony looked up from the case file with a naughty grin.

“Ugh, _Tony_ ,” McGee was exasperated. “You’re not dating my mom. She’s married.”

“Won’t be the first time a married woman’s strayed from her vows,” Tony murmured, his nose back in the case file. His brows were furrowed and he frowned at the page, going back a couple pages slowly, squinting at something. Gibbs recognized it as the face Tony made before he made some connection about a case that would tie it up in a pretty bow once they let his thought process play out and followed whatever obscure lead that he might have found. That was one of his special talents, the ability to put together a case out of some tiny detail that he noticed, whose thread once they pulled, would unravel the entire tapestry. It was one of Gibbs’ favorite expressions on Tony’s face. His orgasm face was way up there, too. And his big smile. Oh, who was Gibbs kidding? Every expression was his favorite when it came to Tony’s face.

“Not my mom,” McGee growled, starting to get angry now.

Gibbs gave him a look, unimpressed. So, he could tease the hell out of Tony but he couldn’t take one ‘your momma’ joke? He needed to grow thicker skin if he wanted to get away with teasing someone like Tony for whom snark was his first language. McGee was feeling empowered by the bullying that Ziva was doing and riding her coattails. He should be able to stand on his own two feet without having someone else back him up to have the strength to say the things he was saying to Tony. And if he could borrow the courage to tease a man, he should also have the backbone to take the hits flung back.

McGee noticed Gibbs’ glare and immediately deflated. Ziva, however, was not so easily cowed.

“Tony, you know you can tell us,” she coaxed. “Who is this woman that you are so determined to hide from us? And why can you not tell us about her?”

“Maybe because she doesn’t exist?” Tony murmured, flipping the pages of the case file now, tilting his head to look at a photo, even pulling it out and bringing it close to his face. “I can’t tell you about a woman I’m fucking daily when there is no such woman.”

Gibbs could barely contain the ‘Damn right,’ that wanted to escape him. Tony was absolutely right. There was no such woman. There was him, though, and the thought of some random woman encroaching on his territory was making him want to growl.

“Look at this,” Tony leaned into Gibbs’ body, putting the file in front of him, pointing out a detail in the witness’s statement. “And look at this picture.” He put a finger on the blood spatter depicted on the photograph. “That’s an arterial spray,” he murmured. “The witness claims he saw something else.”

“Witness statements are notoriously unreliable,” Gibbs muttered, frowning at what Tony was showing him.

“Yeah, but this guy said he saw some guy stab the vic and run away, right?” Tony was unselfconsciously leaning his elbow on Gibbs’ thigh as he flipped through the pages of the case. “The description is as vague as they come, a man, probably white, average build, maybe between 5’ 8” and 6’ 2” which could be you, me, even McGee. Could be anyone. And sure, you can get all kinds of details wrong since it was dark, things happened too quickly, blah blah blah, and he got blood on himself because he went to try to stop the bleeding after the perp ran off, right? But look at the spray pattern. There’s a space missing on the wall which the investigators back then posited must have sprayed on the perp. But look at the blood on the witness’s clothes. Especially the edges on both sides.”

Gibbs peered closer and he realized that under the torrents of blood soaking the front of the man’s shirt, he could still make out the traces of the original arterial spray.

“He wasn’t trying to help the vic. This guy went and got himself soaked in the vic’s blood afterwards on purpose to conceal this spray, and for whatever reason _he_ wanted to be the one to report the crime,” Tony’s focused look was intense and incredibly attractive, but Gibbs could now see what Tony was trying to tell him.

“ _He’s_ the killer,” Gibbs growled.

“That’s what I’m thinking,” Tony nodded, looking satisfied. “I’ll call Balboa and have him and his team follow up on this.”

“You do that,” Gibbs nodded, putting an arm around Tony and squeezing him momentarily before letting him move out of his personal space. “Good work. Attaboy, Skippy.”

Tony vibrated with happiness and pride, and when he heard a squeak come from the two across from him, Gibbs looked up to see both Ziva and McGee staring at him now, open-mouthed. “What?” he barked at them.

“You just praised Tony!” Ziva gasped.

“You never do that!” McGee looked shocked.

“Did _you_ just solve a case while sitting on a train with your teammates jawing away at you, wanting to know about your supposed secret girlfriend?” Gibbs growled. “No? Then shut the fuck up and maybe you should have packed some work to do on the train like DiNozzo here did.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Gibbs saw that Tony, who was already on the phone with Balboa, blushed, turning away to hide his reaction from Gibbs and his other teammates. He was such a dork. Gibbs would have to reward him later for this.

When Tony got off the phone, he updated Gibbs on what Balboa was going to do now that they had handed off the lead, and then he buried his nose back in their active case and McGee and Ziva mercifully did the same and stopped teasing Tony, at least they did so for the time being, while they were in front of Gibbs.

When they got to New York City, Gibbs and Ziva went to pick up the rental and Tony and McGee took the subway together to the hotel that had showed up on the dead Lieutenant’s credit card records, to continue the investigation about the stay which he had claimed was a work thing to his wife, and a personal thing to his CO. Tony navigated New York City with a confidence and familiarity that not only fit with his personality, but totally spoke of his knowledge of the city, having grown up on Long Island. Sometimes Gibbs forgot that Tony was truly a city boy, but he could see how Tony had shrugged on the persona of New York native as easily as he pulled on a suit jacket. Gibbs and Ziva were bringing Tony’s and McGee’s go-bags along with theirs, to throw into the trunk of the rental, and McGee and Tony set off their backpacks shouldered, and Tony weaving his way smoothly through the throngs of people in Grand Central Station while McGee’s progress was much more stop and go. Gibbs and Ziva exchanged a look of derision at McGee from their vantage point, and Ziva giggled when Tony stopped, grabbed McGee, and held on to the front of his jacket, towing him behind him as he continued his smooth forward progress. At least McGee was smart enough not to try to escape from Tony’s strong grip and they quickly got to the huge archway and disappeared out of Gibbs’ sight beyond it.

Gibbs sighed, and turned to Ziva, jerking his head to signal that she was to come with him as he moved away. They had a job to do. Ziva nodded at him and trailed him as he led the way to the bank of rental car companies, looking at the piece of paper torn from Tony’s notebook that had their reservation number and the car rental company name.

The afternoon flew by. Tony and McGee dug up even more information, interviewing the staff at the vic’s hotel, while Gibbs and Ziva dug into the other places that showed up on the vic’s credit card records. They worked in pairs until they regrouped at the hotel Tony had booked for them for the night around 5 PM. They would need to continue the trail in the morning, not yet finished with the city for the time being. Gibbs took one of the card keys and gestured for Tony to go with him, leaving Ziva and McGee to share the second room. It wasn’t their usual cheap motel, given that it was New York City, but being a federal agency and military to boot gave them certain discounts and advantages when it came to accommodations, especially in the larger cities.

“You’re on your own for the night,” Gibbs told them all. “Meet down here at 0700, earlier if you want to get breakfast.”

They all nodded and went to their assigned rooms. When he and Tony got to their room, which was mercifully on a different floor from Ziva and McGee’s room, he took Tony’s hand and smiled at him. “How was your day?” he asked.

Tony rolled his eyes and shrugged him off. “Don’t be an idiot. Shower and change. I booked us dinner reservations for tonight. We’re going out.”

Gibbs raised his eyebrows.

“Once I got over my little fit this morning, I realized, fuck it, we’re going to be in the City for our anniversary!” he grinned. “What better way to have a night out for a celebration.”

Gibbs grinned, “So you’re not upset anymore?”

“We-e-lllll,” Tony dragged out the syllable. “I’m still disappointed, but maybe I’ll just have to try and get it done some other time, and this time I’m going to put in for leave for both of us just in case work gets in the way again, because it was really a pain in the ass to organize, and a pain in the ass to cancel.”

Gibbs sighed. “Sorry, baby.”

“It’s not your fault,” Tony shrugged. “But we do have a schedule to keep, so get in the shower.”

“Join me?” Gibbs took his hand.

Tony checked his watch. “No, if I get in the shower with you, we won’t make our reservations,” he shook his head. “You know how we get when we’re both naked.”

Gibbs laughed. “Your mythical secret girlfriend has nothing to complain about with regards to that,” he teased.

“Don’t even start with that,” Tony rolled his eyes. “Now go on. And let’s make it a quick one in case we have delays getting to the destination.”

Gibbs tried to entice him into the shower with him with a striptease, but Tony resolutely shook his head and watched pointedly until Gibbs got into the shower with the water on. After Gibbs got out, Tony took his turn, and his was so quick even a marine drill sergeant wouldn’t have any complaints about it. Tony dressed in slacks, a nice dress shirt and a jacket but no tie, so Gibbs figured what he had on would work. They had on spring jackets, given that it was March, and Tony impatiently grabbed Gibbs’ hand and pulled him on.

“Should we drive?” Gibbs shook the rental car keys.

“At this hour?” Tony checked his watch. “Walking would be faster. But no, we’re taking the subway.”

Gibbs let Tony drag him down to the nearest subway station and they went on their way. It didn’t take long before they arrived at their destination, Rockefeller Center.

Gibbs gave Tony a surprised look.

“The Rockefeller Center skating rink is open until April,” Tony grinned. “So, we’re going to go skating there.”

“You don’t have your skates,” Gibbs objected.

Tony shrugged. “This was a last minute plan and I didn’t think to bring my skates in my go-bag,” he grinned. “But they have rentals and no one knows us here so we can have a nice date and I will expect you to hold my hand while we skate together.”

Gibbs chuckled at that. “I won’t object to that. Besides, holding on to you will keep me from landing on my ass one too many times.”

Tony grinned, and they made their way to the famous rink. Tony had reserved a package for the two of them so they didn’t have to stand in line with the rest of the public, going straight to get their skates and lacing them on. Once Tony had his skates on, he began stretching while he waited for Gibbs, demonstrating just how flexible he was by bending over to touch the floor with the palms of his hands flat, knees and back straight, even though he was taller than he usually was, his height elevated by the blade of the ice skates on his feet. Once he was done with that, he began standing on one foot and lifting the other up behind him, catching the blade with his hand and arching his body and neck backwards to touch the skate, perfectly balanced on one foot.

“Are you _trying_ to rile me up?” Gibbs asked, feeling the heat of arousal burn through him while Tony demonstrated just how fucking _bendy_ he was.

“Huh?” Tony gave him a surprised look, midway through what looked to be a split. He had apparently really not been doing it on purpose. “I’m just stretching.”

Gibbs shook his head, rolling his eyes, because he hadn’t been the only one noticing Tony’s lithe body limber up. He was distracted when Tony did a back bend, his body a perfect arch, and then he had somehow moved himself into a handstand, skates straight up in the air, toes pointed gracefully.

“You don’t usually do this shit,” Gibbs cocked his head to the side, giving Tony a curious look.

“I started doing yoga,” Tony gracefully brought himself upright. “One of my frat brother’s wives swears by it and it’s helping my muscles stretch fully before I skate. Helps me bounce back from all the bruises I get when I take a spill, too.”

“Is that where you’ve been disappearing to and not talking to me about it?” Gibbs asked. “These last few weeks?”

“Uh, sure?” Tony looked guilty, but he grinned and reached a hand towards Gibbs. “Come on, we only have ninety minutes to skate and then we have dinner reservations.”

Gibbs rolled his eyes at Tony’s deflection, wondering what it was the man was hiding, and when he would spring that on Gibbs, but he took Tony’s hand and they stepped on the ice, fingers interlaced, and began skating slowly together. It was the first time that Gibbs had held Tony’s hand on the ice when they weren’t completely alone. They just skated around, holding hands, discussing the case, and Tony brought him up to date on Balboa’s progress on the cold case that he had broken wide open earlier. At times, Tony skated backwards, holding both of Gibbs’ hands to facilitate their discussion, negotiating the crowd of skaters without any issues, even though he was moving backwards. It was all so effortless for him, it took Gibbs’ breath away.

The music changed from a series of mellow songs to a fast rock song, familiar to Gibbs, but apparently a song Tony knew well. Unexpectedly, he pulled Gibbs into his arms and began dancing on the ice with him, and Gibbs had skated enough with him to allow him to take the lead and basically work to maintain his balance while Tony moved him around, spinning him, moving him to the beat of the music. It was more like a fifties-esque doo-wop dance and Gibbs felt like Tony needed a poodle skirt as he spun in tight circles, before breaking out of the spin, taking Gibbs’ hands and dancing him around again. Gibbs couldn’t help but laugh as Tony sang along with the words, the color high in his cheeks, and he just looked so goddamned _happy_ that Gibbs didn’t have the heart to complain about being treated like an ice-dancing mannequin.

Gibbs knew the song and sang along with the chorus:

“ _Tell her about it_  
_Tell her everything you feel_  
_Give her every reason to accept_  
_That you're for real.”_

Tony nodded approvingly, gyrating his hips just so against Gibbs as he danced. He knew all the words and sang along as he spun and kicked his legs, dancing around Gibbs, even pulling him into a spin together, something Gibbs was getting used to since Tony liked skating with him, and Gibbs had taken the ice with Tony more than a few times during their three months, always just the two of them. Tony danced with him, making Gibbs forget where he was and even forgetting that he wasn’t great at dancing nor was he as good a skater as Tony was, but he enjoyed himself following Tony’s lead, and he trusted that Tony would never let him fall. He trusted that Tony would have his six and threw himself into the dance, laughing when Tony moved in outrageous ways. They ended the song with Tony dipping him, bending him almost onto the ice, lips lightly skimming his throat.

They were out of breath and smiling at each other for a long moment. The applause surprised Gibbs when Tony helped him straighten back up, and there were a few people clapping and whistling at their little performance. Gibbs felt himself blush, but Tony just bowed and swung Gibbs around, spinning him once, and then bowing again with a little flourish, hamming it up for the crowd.

Gibbs shook his head and rolled his eyes, but when the next song came on, he put his arm through Tony’s, holding on as they skated on. At the next slow song, Tony pulled him close and skated them around in a rough box step, pulling off slow tandem spins, his hands deftly positioning Gibbs correctly to ensure that they skated smoothly as they danced, and Gibbs left it all up to him. Gibbs took the hint and spun Tony a few times, and the man just went into a whirl, spinning quickly and making artistic looking motions with his arms and one foot, and Gibbs had to pull him in for a kiss when he slowed down and reached for Gibbs’ hand again.

An hour and a half went by quicker and more pleasantly than Gibbs had anticipated, and he and Tony drew applause several times, and he couldn’t help but think to himself that it was because of Tony that he was himself becoming a half-decent ice skater. Tony just kept getting better and better, of course, but Tony coaxed him onto the ice with him every so often and liked to try different moves and tricks with him. He seemed to always brighten up and seem to blossom when Gibbs gave him all his attention and took an interest in this ‘stupid little hobby’ of his – Tony’s words, not Gibbs’. Not that Gibbs agreed. It wasn’t a stupid little hobby. It wasn’t even that Tony was actually _good_ at it, it was because it made the man so fucking happy to be able to skate, and to show off to Gibbs, and to share in the experience with Gibbs. He could tell that that was what made what they did together that much more special for Tony. And he liked seeing Tony happy and content, and if it meant he had to skate with Tony every so often and get away with watching Tony fly over the ice and spin and jump and do all kinds of things that Gibbs could only imagine doing as often as he possibly could, then he would absolutely do that and be there for the man.

Hell, he enjoyed this whole thing with Tony even at Rockefeller Center, when it wasn’t even just the two of them. Even though they were at a public skating rink and Tony couldn’t let loose the way he did when they had use of the Naval Academy’s skating rink after hours, Gibbs found that he enjoyed being able to skate with Tony in public, the two of them, holding hands and dancing and kissing, in the open, without worrying that word of it would spread at work. Gibbs wasn’t even big on PDAs – just ask his three ex-wives – but something about being on the ice with Tony removed some of those inhibitions.

It wasn’t that Gibbs cared if people from work found out that he and Tony were together. NCIS did not have a no-fraternization rule for colleagues, and Gibbs couldn’t care less that his own Rule 12 had been thoroughly broken in the past few months. He just didn’t know how Tony would react if people found out that he was seeing a guy, and probably more importantly, how Tony would react if people found out about his very protected secret, that he was actually a competent figure skater. That was something that he had only shared with his mother and something so personal to him that Gibbs was surprised that he was being so open with his skills out in public like this. But it was in a whole other city, one of the biggest cities in the world, and Tony wasn’t worried that they would be found out, so Gibbs decided he would just go with it and not worry about it too much. Cross that bridge when he came to it, and all that.

After they returned the ice skates and put their shoes back on, Tony laced his fingers with Gibbs and they walked to the café in Rockefeller Center that overlooked the skating rink. Tony had made reservations for them to eat there for their anniversary, and when Gibbs thanked him, Tony only shrugged and said that it was a good thing that it was a weekday since he didn’t think that he would’ve been able to get them a table at this restaurant on a weekend on such short notice.

Gibbs smiled and kissed his cheek, tucking Tony’s arm in through his and clasping Tony’s hand with his other hand as they trailed the maître d to their table. They were led to a table right next to the big wall of windows, and they were right next to the skating rink where people were in line, getting ready for the next ninety-minute skating session.

They ordered appetizers, steaks and a dessert, both of them hungry after having worked up an appetite on the ice. Their server had noticed the both of them on the ice earlier and complimented them on their ice skating prowess which made Tony blush and Gibbs grin. They had wine with their dinner and bourbon at the bar afterwards, and Gibbs found himself unable to let go of Tony’s hand the entire time they sat on the barstools.

When they got back to their room that night, Gibbs took Tony apart, rewarding him for the lovely three-month anniversary celebration by edging him until he was begging to come, and when he finally fucked the man, he was sure that they would get noise complaints because the headboard was banging against the wall and Tony’s cries were loud and lustful, especially when Gibbs finally allowed him to orgasm.

It was an extremely satisfying evening.

The next morning, when Ziva and McGee were ribbing Tony about the fact that he still somehow had his ‘I had sex’ face, wondering how the hell he might have managed that when he shared a room with Gibbs, Tony only rolled his eyes.

“If you guys are convinced that I had sex last night, then you must admit that I can’t possibly have a secret girlfriend, right?” he said, his tone reasonable. Gibbs felt that he had to take credit for how mellow Tony was this morning, since he’d fucked Tony again when he woke up at his usual customary time of oh-dark-thirty in the morning, as Tony liked to put it. Although Tony rarely had any complaints as to _how_ Gibbs woke him up most mornings.

“Are you cheating on your super secret girlfriend, Tony?” Ziva asked.

Tony sighed and rolled his eyes. “I can’t even believe you,” he shook his head sadly.

“Let’s get to work,” Gibbs barked at them, enjoying it when they all three of them hopped to and stopped talking about Tony’s nonexistent secret girlfriend.

Tony’s saucy wink at him as he walked away made Gibbs blush though, and he wished that he could drag Tony to the elevator to ravish those ridiculously lush lips of his. But that would have to wait until their work was done. The hotel would probably object to Gibbs using the emergency stop button on their elevator just so he could kiss the shit out of his boyfriend.

But if this was how Tony’s impromptu, last minute three-month celebration had turned out, he had to wonder what fancy elaborate thing that Tony had planned that he ended up canceling. And Gibbs also wondered if this might mean that their six-month anniversary would be over the top because of it.

He grinned and brushed the back of Tony’s head with his hand, a gentle caress, as he walked by, dropping his plate of complimentary breakfast on the table next to him, and pressing his thigh to Tony’s when he sat down to eat. Tony handed him an extra coffee and gave him a small smile, and Gibbs could feel him press his leg back against Gibbs’ and they sat that way for the whole meal.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this next little story in the Tony Skates series. I wanted to thank you all for the lovely kudos and comments from yesterday's story. You guys are awesome ❤️
> 
> Don't forget to go view RPD's [art masterpost](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27799831)! Je t’aime, ma cherie!
> 
> Both songs for this story were by Billy Joel:  
> * [Tell Her About It](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB_TRgolajc)  
> * [Just the Way You Are](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBZnGk1nAjw)
> 
> I have never even been to Rockefeller Center, never mind the skating rink so I had to depend on google for information about it. Here are a couple links I found useful:  
> * [Rockefeller Center Ice Skating Season](https://www.rockefellercenter.com/blog/2019/10/08/ice-skating-season/)  
> * [Useful guide for Ice Skating at Rockefeller Center](https://www.tripsavvy.com/ice-skating-at-rockefeller-center-1613118)
> 
> Again, I'm also going to take the time to invite you to sign up for the 2021 NCIS Reverse Bang Challenge! Come and join the fun, if you are writers or artists! Artists can [sign up here](https://ncis-bang.livejournal.com/107865.html), and authors can [sign up here](https://ncis-bang.livejournal.com/108245.html)! 
> 
> Until next time, take care and stay safe. ❤️❤️❤️  
> -j  
> xoxo

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Art for From the Heart](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27799831) by [Red_Pink_Dots](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Pink_Dots/pseuds/Red_Pink_Dots)




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